We had a very pleasant conversation with Hrvoje Selec, director of animated films, and this year’s jury of Star Film Fest. Read a fragment of the inspirational conversation.

Hrvoje’s occupation is animation. In his opinion, Croatian cinematography is important and well-known in the world. Of course, he’s speaking of unavoidable Zagreb School of Animated Films which as a movement began during the mid-fifties of the last century. This initiative of caricaturists, comic artists and illustrators evolved not only the animation but also the graphic design of our country. Although more than fifty years have passed since their work, they are an unavoidable inspiration even today. He is proud of getting the opportunity to meet many authors of that time period. He is most fond of the animated film, which is not surprising considering that he began animating as an amateur when he was 8, but now he’s doing it professionally. During that time animation was scarce, but in his hometown during 90’s he had the opportunity to work for the association VANIMA, for which he works today. He highlighted several directors of best Croatian animated movies such as Nedjeljko Dragić, Borivoj Dovniković, Dušan Vukotić, Vatroslav Mimicu, but also other more recent Croatian animators: Krešimir Zimonić, Joško Marušić, Simon Bogojević Narath. Everyone is familiar with the famous animated film Surogat, which got the prestigious award Oscar in 1962; it is also important to mention that this was the first Oscar-awarded film by an author outside of USA. Looking at newer generations of our animators, we can say that we are faced with a perspective future. As we hear how in Croatia many film festivals exist, Hrvoje believes how this is good for the development of audiovisual activities. With today’s availability of technical equipment, anyone with a bit of motivation and interest can make an animation, but festivals are here to accent the finer authors which, as a result, could gain a bit more motivation to make animation their profession. Festivals are also a great place for authors to meet, socialise and exchange information, and they can also get a reaction of the audience which is especially important for their further creations. This is Hrvoje’s first participation on the Star Film Fest, and he wanted to take this chance to thank the organisers for inviting him to be a jury. He is motivated to experience the festival from a different perspective, this time not as an author or a mentor. His advice to young artists is, “One should definitely believe in oneself, be patient as success rarely comes over the night, but you should also constantly work on yourself,” – which should definitely be taken and applied.